SSIONS 


SETTLED  AREAS  IN  NEW  YORK  STATE 
FROM  1771  TO  1820 


BY  W.  PIERREPONT  WHITE 


Reprint  from  Volume  VII 
Publication  Fund  Series  of 
The  Rochester  Historical  Society 


i£x  ICtbris 


SEYMOUR  DURST 


When  you  leave,  please  leave  this  book 

Because  it  has  been  said 
"Ever'thing  comes  t'  him  who  waits 

Except  a  loaned  book." 


296  Genesee  Street 
utica.  new  york 


296  Genesee  Street 
ut1ca.  new  york 


/<  ^&z^r^-^    tZZttz  ^^^^ 


Indian  Possessions  and  Settled 
Areas  in  New  York  State 
from  1 77 1  to  1820 

By  W.  Pierrepont  White 
President  of  the  Oneida  County  Historical  Society 

CONTRIBUTED  FOR  PUBLICATION,  VOLUME  VII,  PUBLICATION 
FUND    SERIES,   OF    THE    ROCHESTER    HISTORICAL  SOCIETY. 

THE  vast  area  of  the  State  of  New  York  dominated  by 
the  Iroquois  from  the  time  of  Christopher  Columbus, 
was  still  in  their  undisputed  control  in  1775,  with  the 
exception  of  a  narrow  strip  on  both  banks  of  the  Mohawk 
from  Schenectady  to  a  short  distance  beyond  German  Flats. 

The  treaty  of  Tawasentha  between  the  Dutch  and  Iroquois 
at  Norman's  Kill  near  Albany  in  1618,  permitted  the  Dutch 
to  acquire  land  titles  from  the  Mohican  and  Hudson  River 
tribes  of  Indians.  As  time  passed,  this  first  Indian  treaty  as 
made  by  the  Dutch,  was  assumed  by  the  English,  and  was 
ratified  thirty-nine  times  between  1618  and  1779,  when 
General  Sullivan's  raid  broke  the  strength  of  the  Iroquois 
Confederacy. 

The  land  of  the  Hudson  River  settlement  was  purchased 
by  the  Dutch  from  tribes  who  were  kin  of  the  Hurons,  the 
bitter  enemies  of  the  Six  Nations.  On  Long  Island,  and  in 
the  Catskill  area,  the  land  was  bought  from  tribes  subject  to 
the  Six  Nations.  In  neither  case  did  the  Six  Nations  care 
what  became  of  the  lands  of  these  tribes. 

It  was  twenty-five  years  after  the  treaty  of  Tawasentha 
that  the  Indians  permitted  a  settlement  to  be  made  at  Sche- 
nectady, seventeen  miles  west  of  Fort  Orange.  Another 
eighteen  years  elapsed  before  Jelles  Fonda  was  permitted  to 
establish  a  store  at  Fonda,  twenty-seven  miles  west  of  Sche- 


226  The  Rochester  Historical  Society 


nectady.  Earlier  settlements  on  the  river  banks  west  of 
Fonda  and  on  the  Schoharie  had  been  granted  gradually  to 
the  Hollanders,  as  they  did  not  interfere  with  the  Indian 
hunting-grounds  in  the  rear  of  these  grants.  In  1722,  on  the 
invitation  of  the  Mohawks,  came  the  Palatine  settlements  at 
Stone  Arabia,  which,  prior  to  the  Revolution,  grew  westward 
to  the  site  of  Deerfield,  now  the  17th  Ward  in  the  City  of 
Utica. 

After  taking  over  the  government  in  1664,  the  English, 
assuming  the  benefits  of  the  early  Dutch  treaty  of  Tawa- 
sentha,  became  an  ally  of  the  Iroquois,  with  whose  aid  they 
drove  the  French  from  Canada. 

William  Johnson,  destined  to  become  the  controlling 
power  on  the  North  American  continent,  made  his  first  settle- 
ment near  Amsterdam  in  1738.  By  his  matrimonial  alliances 
with  Caroline,  and  on  her  death  with  Molly  Brant — two 
women  of  the  Mohawk  tribe  of  the  Iroquois,  who  in  them- 
selves and  through  their  relatives  were  in  the  supreme  power 
in  tribal  and  Confederacy  control — Sir  William  became  the 
arbiter  in  North  America  of  the  Indian  and  the  Colonial 
Indian  policy  of  England,  and  directed  these  policies  from 
his  residence  in  the  dominating  valley  of  the  Mohawk,  1738- 
1774.  During  this  period,  his  unswerving  fidelity  to  the 
rights  of  the  Indians  upheld  the  treaty  of  Tawasentha,  except 
as  changed  by  the  treaty  of  Fort  Stanwix  in  1768,  and  grants 
made  along  the  Mohawk  River,  some  of  which  gave  offense 
to  the  Indians. 

New  York  State  Area  Maps  of  1771  and  1775 
These  conditions,  from  1609  to  1788,  held  our  early  settle- 
ments for  179  years  to  Long  Island,  the  Mohawk,  Champlain, 
and  Hudson  River  Valleys,  while  the  ancestral  homes  of  the 
Iroquois  occupied  the  balance  of  the  present  area  of  the 
State. 

The  Guy  Johnson  Area  Map  of  1771,  and  the  T.  G.  Best 
Area  Map  of  1775,  published  herein,  show  the  extent  of  the 
Indian  possessions. 

New  York  State  Area  Map  of  1786 
The  Area  Map  of  1786  shows  the  location  and  distribution 


New  York  State  Maps 


227 


of  the  thirteen  million  acres  of  land  belonging  to  the  Six 
Nations  which  New  York  and  Massachusetts  divided  between 
themselves  by  the  Hartford  Convention,  forcing  a  greater 
part  of  the  Indians  to  remove  to  Brantford,  Ontario,  Canada, 
to  occupy  lands  granted  them  by  England.  In  1786  the  State's 
white  population  approximated  190,000,  and  was  confined  to 
the  shaded  area  on  the  Mohawk-Hudson  and  Long  Island, 
shown  on  the  Area  Map  of  1786.  In  the  balance  of  the  State 
was  an  Indian  population  of  about  17,000.  In  northern  New 
York  there  were  five  million  acres  of  land  not  affected  by 
the  claim  of  Massachusetts  which,  plus  the  thirteen  million 
acres  above  referred  to,  made  a  total  of  eighteen  million  acres, 
which  were  added  to  Montgomery  County  in  1788  by  Act  of 
the  Legislature  and  called  "White's-Town." 

The  Dutch  settlements,  commencing  nearx-\lbany  in  1614, 
have  a  background  of  over  three  hundred  years.  The  Dutch 
followed  the  Mohawk  to  Schenectady  and  Fonda  and  they 
also  settled  on  the  Schoharie  Creek.  The  Palatines  came 
from  the  country  south  of  the  Rhine,  driven  from  their 
homes  by  devastating  wars.  As  stated  above,  their  settle- 
ment in  the  Mohawk  Valley  has  a  background  of  two  hundred 
years,  from  1722.  They  settled  on  both  sides  of  the  river 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Schoharie  Creek  to  the  Weaver  clear- 
ing at  Deerfield  Corners,  a  district  of  about  fifty  miles  long 
by  ten  miles  wide. 

Sir  William  Johnson's  settlement  lay  on  the  north  of  the 
Mohawk  River  between  the  Dutch  and  the  Palatines.  Or- 
iskany  Patent,  Fonda's  Patent  and  Coxe's  Patent  were  on 
the  conflux  of  the  Oriskany  Creek  with  the  Mohawk  and  the 
head-waters  of  the  Mohawk.  These  three  patents  were  at 
the  very  western  extreme  of  our  colonial  land  grants  and 
formed  the  frontier  line  of  both  the  Province  of  New  York 
and  the  County  of  Tryon.  On  their  western  and  northern 
lines  lay  the  country  of  the  Six  Nations.  These  facts  are 
clearly  shown  on  the  Area  Maps  of  1775  and  1786. 

The  millions  of  acres  procured  for  £10,000  at  the  treaty  of 
Fort  Stanwix  in  1768,  were  bought  from  the  subjugated 
tribes  of  the  Iroquois  by  Sir  William  Johnson,  who  took 
title  to  the  entire  area  in  the  name  of  King  George  III.  This 
area  lay  in  the  rear  of  all  colonies  having  "ocean  to  ocean" 


228  The  Rochester  Historical  Society 


grants  included  in  their  earlier  charters.  King  George's 
possession  effectively  blocked  all  hope  of  expansion  except 
on  the  King's  terms.  This  led  to  Dunmore's  War  in  Virginia 
and  was  one  of  the  primary  causes  of  the  Revolution. 

Not  until  Sir  William  Johnson  negotiated  the  treaty  of 
Fort  Stanwix  with  3,400  of  the  Six  Nations  and  their  de- 
pendent tribes,  was  a  definite  western  boundary  for  the  Prov- 
ince of  New  York  established.  At  that  date,  1768,  this  was 
established  from  Fort  Bull  to  the  Pennsylvania  Line.  In 
1772,  this  line  became  the  western  boundary  of  Tryon 
County  which  was  set  off  from  Albany  County  in  1772,  at 
the  request  of  Sir  William  Johnson.  The  northern  boundary 
of  Tryon  County  followed  the  lines  of  Fonda's  Patent  from 
Fort  Bull  to  the  north  and  east,  following  the  northern  line 
of  the  other  patents  as  they  had  been  granted  northerly  from 
the  Mohawk  River.  North  and  west  of  these  lines  of  Tryon 
County  all  other  area  in  the  limits  of  our  present  State  was 
the  property  of  the  Six  Nations. 

New  York  State  Area  Map  of  1788 
Showing  White's-Town 
As  soon  as  the  Revolution  ceased,  the  great  immigration 
from  New  England  poured  into  the  Iroquois  lands.  In  June 
1784,  Hugh  White  and  his  six  sons  made  the  first  settlement 
of  New  Englanders  west  of  the  Palatine  settlements  at  the 
mouth  of  the  Sauquoit  Creek  and  the  Mohawk.  His  settle- 
ment was  the  furthest  up  the  Mohawk  and  deepest  into  the 
Indian  country.  In  1788  all  of  the  lands  of  the  Six  Nations, 
Indians  and  all,  were  included  in  Montgomery  County  and 
immediately  designated  as  the  town  of  White's-Town,  named, 
as  was  the  custom,  after  the  first  settler.  Less  than  200 
white  inhabitants  occupied  this  area  at  that  time.  In  1787 
there  were  eleven  homes  at  Hugh  White's  settlement,  five  at 
Rome,  three  at  Oriskany,  three  in  Utica  and  three  in  West- 
moreland. Today  there  are  thirty  counties  which  trace  their 
chain  of  title  as  having  been  included  in  the  original  limits 
of  White's-Town  and  County  of  Montgomery.  The  1920 
census  gives  these  counties  a  population  of  2,766,266  and 
the  State  a  population  of  10,386,773.  It  is  to  White's- 
Town  has  come  the  unique  distinction  of  being  called 


New  York  State  Maps 


229 


the  "Mother  of  Counties,"  and  she  gladly  welcomed  to  her 
Historic  Pageant  in  August,  1923,  the  2,766,266  children  then 
residing  in  the  thirty  counties  that  have  been  created  from 
her  territory  by  acts  of  the  Legislature  from  1789  to  1859,  as 
follows : 


Ontario   1789 

Tioga   1 79 1 

Onondaga   1794 

Steuben   1796 

Oneida   1798 

Chenango   1798 

Cayuga   1799 

St.  Lawrence   1802 

Genesee  1 802 

Seneca   1804 

Lewis   1805 

Jefferson   1 805 

Allegany   1 806 

Madison   1 806 

Broome   1 806 


Cattaragus   1808 

Chatauqua   1808 

Cortland   1808 

Niagara  1808 

Oswego   1 816 

Tompkins   1817 

Erie   1 821 

Livingston   1821 

Monroe   1821 

Yates  1823 

Wayne   1823 

Orleans   1824 

Chemung   1836 

Wyoming   1841 

Schuyler   1859 


The  first  subdivision  of  this  area  into  land  grants  from 
the  State  of  New  York  is  shown  on  the  Area  Map  of  1798. 
Ontario  County,  created  1789,  and  subdivided  in  1796  to 
make  Steuben  County,  would  give  that  date  to  the  map, 
except  that  "Utica"  is  also  on  the  map  and  was  incorporated 
as  a  village  in  1798,  abandoning  its  previous  title  of  "Old  Fort 
Schuyler." 

The  great  New  England  migration  to  the  State  would  have 
none  of  the  Dutch  names.  Old  Fort  Schuyler  became  Utica; 
Fort  Schuyler,  the  rechristened  Fort  Stanwix,  became  Rome; 
New  Amsterdam  on  Buffalo  Creek,  was  not  permitted  to 
carry  its  honored  name,  and  the  New  Englanders  insisted  on 
calling  it  Buffalo.  Three  of  these  distinctively  New  England 
settlements  have  become  cities  and  are  about  to  have  cen- 
tennials— Utica  in  1932,  Buffalo  fifty-nine  days  later  in  the 
same  year,  and  Rochester  in  1934.  Rochester  at  the  present 
time  is  more  typically  a  product  of  New  England  than  Utica 
or  Buffalo,  and  these  centennials  will  follow  the  Revolu- 
tionary sesquicentennials.  The  area  now  occupied  by  these 
cities  was,  in  1788,  in  White's-Town,  County  of  Montgomery. 


AREA  MAP  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  I77I 
SHOWING  THE  EXTENSIVE  TERRITORY  HELD  BY  THE  IROQUOIS  CONFEDERACY  UP  TO  THE  TIME  OF  THE  REVOLUTIONARY  WAR. 


w  w 


AREA  MAP  OF  THE  STATE  OF  NEW  YORK,  I786 

SHOWING  THE  DIVISION  OF  THE  THIRTEEN  MILLION  ACRES  OF  LAND 
BETWEEN  MASSACHUSETTS  AND  NEW  YORK  BY  THE  HARTFORD  CON- 
VENTION. THIS  MAP  ALSO  SHOWS  THE  DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  STATE'S 
FIRST  SETTLERS;  AND  THE  SENECA  COUNTRY,  WHICH  WAS  THE 
ORIGINAL  PHELPS  AND  GORHAM  PURCHASE. 


o 


Q 


The  Rochester  Historical  Society  230 


In  March,  1784,  Tryon  County  was  renamed  Montgomery 
County  in  honor  of  General  Richard  Montgomery,  who  died 
heroically  before  Quebec,  Dec.  31,  1775.  During  the  six 
years  immediately  following  1784,  the  New  England  immi- 
gration had  begun;  the  Indian  land  titles  were  in  process  of 
extinguishment  by  purchase  and  treaty;  the  Massachusetts 
claim  was  adjusted;  and  the  eighteen  million  acres  of  land 
belonging  to  the  Six  Nations  were  added  to  Montgomery 
County  by  Act  of  Legislature,  1778,  and  called  White's- 
Town. 

New  York  State  Area  Map  of  1790 
The  advancing  New  England  settlements  are  shown  on  the 
Area  Map  of  1790.  The  entire  territory  of  the  State  of  New 
York,  including  the  eighteen  million  acres  of  land  taken 
from  the  Indians  at  the  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and 
added  to  the  County  of  Montgomery  in  1788,  as  the  town  of 
White's-Town,  was  being  parceled  out  by  the  land  office  and 
subdivided  by  its  purchasers  for  sale  to  settlers,  during  the 
ten  years  from  1788  to  1798. 

New  York  State  Area  Map  of  1798 
The  New  York  State  land  grants  as  they  appeared  in  1798, 
are  shown  on  the  "Map  of  the  Middle  States  of  North  Amer- 
ica showing  the  position  of  the  Geneseo  Country  comprehend- 
ing the  Counties  of  Ontario  and  Steuben  as  laid  off  in  Town- 
ships of  Six  Miles  Square  Each,"  published  herein. 

New  York  State  Area  Map  of  1820 
By  1820  the  eighteen  million  of  acres  of  lands  of  Western, 
Central  and  Northern  New  York  were  largely  taken  up  by 
settlers  from  New  England.  Their  soldiers  had  brought  back 
glowing  accounts  of  the  open  fields  and  fertile  lands,  which 
they  had  crossed  with  General  Sullivan's  expedition  to  punish 
the  Six  Nations.  The  vast  extent  of  the  New  England 
invasion  is  revealed  on  the  Area  Map  of  1820. 

The  three  epochs  illustrated  by  Tharratt  G.  Best  in  the  New 
York  State  Area  Maps  of  1775,  1790  and  1820,  reveal  as- 
tonishing facts.  They  show  how  the  intensely  interesting 
history  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  during  the  French  and  Indian 


231 


New  York  State  Maps 


Wars,  as  well  as  the  noble  and  heroic  parts  played  in  the 
Revolution  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  Valley,  were  suddenly 
isolated  from  general  knowledge  when  the  lands  of  the  Six 
Nations  were  taken  up  by  the  victorious  soldiers  of  New 
England,  who  knew  little  of,  and  cared  less  for,  the  original 
settlers  inhabiting  the  Valley.  Andrew  S.  Draper  once  said: 
"New  York  made  history  and  Massachusetts  wrote  it." 

In  closing,  it  is  interesting  to  stress  the  importance  of  New 
York  State  in  the  Revolution.  New  York  was  the  frontier 
of  the  Iroquois  Country.  The  Iroquois,  with  the  exception 
of  the  Oneidas  and  Tuscaroras,  were,  during  the  Revolution, 
the  allies  of  Great  Britain.  From  their  limitless  forests  with- 
in the  present  bounds  of  New  York,  these  Indians  were  led 
forth  in  pitiless  expeditions,  committing  ghastly  frontier 
horrors,  which  depopulated  the  homes  of  the  settlers.  These 
settlers  were  engaged  annually  in  raising  the  grain  which  fed 
the  army  of  Washington  while  at  Newburgh,  Valley  Forge,  or 
in  New  Jersey.  So  near  were  West  Point  and  Kingston  to 
the  Ulster  County  frontier  that  it  was  constantly  guarded 
by  regulars  against  the  raiders  from  the  forests,  but  not  so 
the  Mohawk  Valley  settlements,  the  defence  of  which  fell 
upon  the  inhabitants,  who  received  scant  aid. 

From  1775  to  1783,  Long  Island  and  the  Champlain, 
Hudson,  and  Mohawk  Valleys,  furnished  the  battlefields 
for  the  ninety-two  recorded  conflicts  that  occurred  in  this 
State.  The  entire  eight-year  period  was  one  of  continuous 
conflict  for  these  valleys.  Massachusetts  had  eleven  conflicts 
in  1775,  three  in  1776,  and  none  thereafter.  Connecticut 
had  a  total  of  fourteen  engagements;  Rhode  Island  and 
Pennsylvania,  five  conflicts  each;  New  Jersey  thirty-one, 
Georgia  twenty-two,  Virginia  sixteen,  while  South  Caro- 
lina had  seventy-nine.  New  York  furnished  the  greater  num- 
ber of  battlefields  for  both  the  French  and  Indian  Wars  as 
well  as  the  Revolution.  Some  of  these  conflicts  took  place  on 
Long  Island,  but  the  most  of  them  were  quite  closely 
confined  to  the  Mohawk,  Champlain,  and  Hudson  River 
Valley  settlements,  which  were  limited  to  a  strip  of  land 
less  than  eight  miles  wide  on  the  Mohawk,  and  not  over  thirty 
on  the  Hudson. 

The  battlefields  of  New  York,  surrounded  by  forests  and 


The  Rochester  Historical  Society 


232 


closely  confined  to  her  eastern  borders,  penetrated  for  250 
miles  the  principal  commercial  and  military  valleys  on  the 
eastern  slope  of  the  continent,  and  today  have  a  background 
of  from  200  to  300  years  of  occupancy  and  settlement,  a  con- 
dition existing  at  no  other  point  on  the  North  Atlantic  sea- 
board. 

Albany  (1614-1617)  next  to  Jamestown,  Va.,  (1607)  and  St. 
Augustine,  Fla.,  (1565),  is  the  oldest  settlement  in  the  present 
United  States;  and  if  Jamestown  is  thrown  out,  as  deserted 
in  1676,  Albany  may  perhaps  be  called  the  oldest  with  a 
continuous  life,  though  its  official  settlement  date,  1623, 
is  given  as  at  the  close  of  the  twelve  years  Armistice  with 
Spain  (1 609-1 621),  up  to  which  time  the  Albany  occupancy 
was  for  trade  only,  and  not  for  permanent  settlement;  this 
makes  the  official  record  later  than  that  of  Plymouth  (1620). 

No  state  in  the  Union  has  a  greater  history  than  New  York, 
but  much  of  this  history  has  not  found  its  way  into  the  text- 
books and,  therefore,  is  unknown  to  the  average  citizen.  New 
York  State's  immortal  contribution  to  the  winning  of  the 
Revolution  and  the  building  of  our  Nation  should  be  known 
more  widely. 


Editor's  Note:  Mr.  William  Pierrepont  White,  of  Utica,  New  York, 
author  of  the  above  article,  is  a  descendant  from  Elder  John  White,  one  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Cambridge  and  Hadley,  Massachusetts,  and  of  Hart- 
ford, Connecticut.  The  history  of  the  White  family  in  New  York  State 
begins  with  Hugh  White,  the  pioneer  settler  of  White's-Town,  fifth  in 
descent  from  Elder  John  White. 

Among  the  many  noted  members  of  this  family,  three  have  made  con- 
spicuous contributions  to  the  development  of  America  through  their  public 
services  affecting  Water,  Steam  and  Highway  Transportation. 

Canvass  White  gave  his  life  to  canal  construction,  beginning'  as  an 
Engineer  on  the  Erie  Canal,  and  being  largely  responsible  for  its  successful 
completion.  As  a  Civil  Engineer  he  had  no  superior  in  his  day,  and  his 
genius  was  recognized  universally;  although  he  was  poorly  rewarded  for  the 
enormous  wealth  he  created  for  numerous  communities  by  his  unremitting 
labors  to  develop  transportation  by  waterways. 

William  C.  Young,  another  member  of  the  White  family,  was  a  noted 
Civil  Engineer,  who  was  a  pioneer  in  railroad  construction.  He  proposed, 
and  introduced,  the  present  system  of  supporting  car  rails  on  the  roadbed 
by  the  use  of  cross-ties,  a  fundamental  idea  in  railroad  construction  which 
has  never  been  changed.  Among  other  business  connections,  he  became 
Chief  Engineer,  and  then  President,  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad,  and 


233 


New  York  State  Maps 


was  responsible  for  fixing  the  grade  of  the  New  York  Central  as  the  only 
"water  level  route." 

Mr.  William  Pierrepont  White  is  entitled  to  be  called  the  "Father  of  the 
Good  Roads  System"  in  the  United  States.  For  sixteen  years  (1890-1906), 
he  led  the  fight  to  create  public  support  of  hard-surfaced  roads  until,  at 
last,  the  people  of  the  State  of  New  York  adopted  an  amendment  to  their 
constitution  providing  fifty  million  dollars  for  highway  improvement 
(1906).  This  started  the  general  good  roads  movement  throughout  the 
country,  and  laid  the  foundation  for  our  automobile  age.  These  good  roads 
ended  the  isolation  of  rural  communities  and  of  the  American  farms, 
thereby  adding  to  our  national  resources  wealth  beyond  computation. 

Owing  to  his  ancestry  and  distinguished  public  services,  Mr.  William 
Pierrepont  White,  naturally,  has  become  greatly  interested  in  local  his- 
tory, especially  that  of  the  Mohawk  Valley.  For  a  number  of  years  he  has 
served  as  the  President  of  the  Oneida  County  Historical  Society,  and  is  a 
recognized  authority  on  matters  concerning  the  early  history  of  New 
York  State. 


New  York  State  in  1782 

led  in  the  Creation  of  the 

North  West  Territory 

thus  accomplishing  the  purposes  of  the 

Sullivan  Campaign  in  1779 

This  same  VOL.  VII  compiled  and  edited  by  Edward  R.  Fore- 
man, Chairman  of  the  Publication  Committee,  contains  a  paper 
entitled  "Old  Northampton,  in  Western  New  York"  by  Albert  Hazen 
Wright  of  Cornell  University,  of  which  the  editor  makes  the 
following: 

Editor's  Note:  <:Mr.  William  Pierrepont  White,  President  of 
the  Oneida  County  Historical  Society,  author  of  the  article,  INDIAN 
POSSESSIONS  AND  SETTLED  AREAS  IN  NEW  YORK 
STATE,  1771  to  1820,  published  herein,  has  written  in  appreciation 
of  Professor  Albert  Hazen  Wright's  article  on  OLD  NORTHAMP- 
TON as  follows: 

"Prof.  Albert  Hazen  Wright's  article  regarding  OLD  NORTH- 
AMPTON is  the  most  important  contribution  to  New  York  State 
History  since  1849,  when  O'Callaghan's,  " Documentary  History  of 
the  State  of  New  York,"  was  published.  In  saying  this  I  have  in 
mind,  Hugh  Hastings'  "Public  Papers  of  George  Clinton"  (1899); 
James  A.  Roberts,  "New  York  in  the  Revolution"  (1898-;  James 
Sullivan's,  "Sir  William  Johnson's  Papers"  (1921-  and  also,  "The 
Minutes  of  the  Albany  Committee  of  Correspondence,"  published 
under  Mr.  Sullivan's  direction,  (1923).  Also  the  very  valuable 
additional  volume  of  "Sir  William  Johnson's  Papers"  published  un- 
der the  direction  of  Dr.  Alexander  C.  Flick,  (1927). 

"Prof.  Wright's  work  is  the  first  original  source-material,  research 
work  done  affecting  any  part  of  the  temporary  Municipal  Govern- 
ments set  up  in  the  eighteen  million  acres  of  Indian  Lands,  which  the 
Sullivan  Campaign  of  1779,  enabled  the  United  States  to  acquire 
from  the  Indians  for  the  States  of  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  in 
the  adjustment  of  the  ocean-to-ocean  grants  of  New  York,  Massa- 
chusetts and  Connecticut,  in  exchange  for  their  releases  of  title  to 
the  North  West  Territory  as  set  up  in  1787. 

It  is  the  first  history  of  our  chain  of  title,  to  a  part  of  our  present 
holdings  in  the  subdivision  of  these  Indian  Lands;  passing  step  by 
step  from  the  aboriginees  to  the  pioneer  settlers. 


"Prof.  Wright's  maps,  showing  the  successive  subdivisions  of  the 
territory  by  Legislative  enactment,  illustrate  clearly  the  legal  steps 
taken  in  the  mad  rush  for  acquiring  the  Indian  Lands  at  this  period 
of  New  York  State  History. 

" Hough's  'Covered  Wagon',  commencing  at  the  crossing  of  the 
Mississippi  in  further  pursuit  of  the  Indian  Lands,  is  Chapter  Three 
in  the  expansion  of  New  England  and  Virginia  over  Indian  Lands. 

Chapters  One  and  Two,  are  the  story  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  route 
to  White's-Town;  the  Genesee  Country,  Ohio,  and  the  Connecticut 
Reserve.  White's-Town  was  settled  in  1784  by  the  pioneer  Hugh 
White  who,  with  his  five  sons,  cracked  the  whip  on  his  ox-team, 
when  he  started  from  Middletown,  Connecticut,  as  the  first  from 
New  England  to  make  and  mark  the  trail  to  the  Indian  Lands. 

"No  less  interesting  was  the  rush  from  Virginia  through  the  Cum- 
berland Gap,  and  the  settlement  of  Cincinnati,  on  the  Ohio,  in  1788. 

"Old  Northampton"  is  an  appropriate  prelude  to  the  Centennial 
of  Rochester  to  be  celebrated  in  1934,  which  celebration  will  be  pre- 
ceded, in  1932,  by  the  Centennials  of  Utica  and  Buffalo.  The  settle- 
ment of  these  three  communities  rose  out  of  the  Sullivan  Campaign, 
in  1779;  and  they  are  the  first  of  the  New  England  settlements  to 
become  cities,  and  to  acquire  one  hundred  years  of  historical 
background." 

This  reprint  is  sent  you  with  the  compliments  of  the  author,  to 
make  the  Sullivan  Campaign  more  readily  understandable  in  the 
news  articles  that  will  fill  our  press  during  the  coming  season,  of  its 
150th  anniversary,  to  be  celebrated  by  the  State  of  New  York,  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  Educational  Department. 


New  York  State 

is  entitled  to  be  credited  with  the  solution 
for  successfully  creating  the 

North  West  Territory 

Its  successful  solution  enabled  the  Colonies  to  become  a  Nation, 
but  not  until  after  the  adjustment  of  their  conflicting  land  claims. 
In  this  adjustment  New  York  State  led. 


